“Dude, the girl at the party last night had the sexiest dance moves!”
“His accent is so sexy!”
“People Magazine’s sexiest man/woman alive is…”
“Your hair looks so sexy pushed back.”
Sexy is a commonly used word among young people today, but what does it really mean? What does it really mean to be sexy? Has the meaning of the word changed over time?
Merriam-Webster defines sexy as, “sexually suggestive or stimulating; generally attractive or interesting.”
Freshman business major Freddie McCrea has a different definition.
“Sexy is about personality and how you act towards people and the way you see yourself,” McCrea said
Sophomore biology major Sabrina Hackendorn has a similar view as McCrea.
“Being sexy is all about how you feel in your own body,” Hackendorn said. “Feeling confident in yourself is about the sexiest thing you can do.”
Society focuses so much on a specific body type as the standard for sexy, but the standard changes over time. In the ‘80s, it was all about being fit and having an athletic body type. “Society’s standard for sexy now is people who look like the Kardashians,” sophomore exercise science major Emily Town said.
The mold for societal standards of sexy does not fit everyone.
“Not every girl is a twig and not every guy is muscular,” Hackendorn said. “There’s so many body shapes and looks to people than society wants to present.”
“Looks don’t define a person’s sexiness. I believe it’s all about personality,” McCrea said. “If your personality is ugly and mean, then there is nothing sexy about you because I don’t see you in a positive light.”
Everyone also feels sexy in their own way.
“To make myself feel sexy, I’ll put on a cute outfit, I’ll straighten my hair and do my make-up,” Town said. “I’ll look at myself in the mirror and try to make myself feel confident and give myself a little pep talk.”
“Being called beautiful makes me feel sexy,” Town said.
When defining the opposite gender or person of interest as sexy, physical features were not even part of the conversation.
“One thing I find to be sexy about women is someone who can take care of herself and see herself in a good light,” McCrea said.
“[I like] someone who’s not afraid to come up to you and start talking. Someone who can have a conversation and can act like a gentleman is sexy,” Hackendorn said.
“I think a sense of humor is sexy,” Town said. “If you can’t make me laugh than I can’t really have a conversation with you.”
Women have Victoria’s Secret advertisements telling them to buy the latest sexy lingerie to make themselves feel just like the model who is wearing it. Men have pressure from fitness advertisements to be toned and muscular.
“It doesn’t matter what other people think, what matters is how you feel about yourself,” Town said. “The views of society make people feel bad about themselves, so if they didn’t have all this pressure to look sexy, than they could feel sexy.”
